Cardinal George Pell, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, held a “thank you” dinner for former Prime Minister John Howard at his official residence at Cathedral House last night.
The guest list for the private dinner has been declared confidential but the CEO of World Youth Day, Roy Wakelin-King, was believed to be in attendance.
Of greater interest is whether former political allies, such as Tony (The Mad Monk) Abbott and Tony Clark AM, former Howard appointee to the board of Tourism Australia and Telstra, joined the knees-up at the St Mary’s Cathedral precinct in College Street.
Anxious to demonstrate that the cardinal is an evenhanded fellow, a church official told Crikey that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd would be “dropping in for a chat” today after attending HMAS Sydney commemorations.
The close friendship between the hardline conservative Catholic Pell and the arid Methodist Howard was forged in ideological agreement over many years.
Both are devout believers in authority and hierarchy. They share a steely understanding of patronage as a device for creating loyalty among the courtiers, sometimes called the conga line.
When Howard spoke at last year’s 50th anniversary dinner for the grumpy old men’s fanzine, Quadrant, Pell, a regular contributor, was in the audience clapping enthusiastically.
Ballarat-born Pell, 66, whose episcopal motto is “Be Not Afraid”, has much to thank Howard for. When he needed political muscle to reinforce the Vatican’s medieval teachings on abortion and stem cell research, he turned to Howard and was rewarded.
When he took the begging bowl to Canberra for World Youth Day which will be staged in Sydney in July — along with a visit by Pope Benedict XVI — Pell received $35 million plus a contribution towards the $42 million compensation package to the Australian Jockey Club for the use of Randwick Racecourse for a papal mass.
But Pell’s chief reason for thanking Howard is the billions of dollars his government gave to Catholic schools with few strings attached. Fuelled by Howard’s largesse and state school funding cuts, Catholic and other religious schools streaked ahead, cherrypicking teachers from the public sector by offering better wages and funding lavish sports facilities.
On the eve of the 2004 federal election Howard personally announced a $4 million gift to Pell to finance the building of a Sydney campus for the private Notre Dame University. The announcement was leaked exclusively to the Sydney Sunday papers to greet the faithful on their way to mass.
Today’s newspapers make much of the fact that Howard did not receive a Knighthood of the Garter in the St George’s Day honors list released yesterday by Buckingham Palace. As one of Queen Elizabeth’s most loyal subjects, it was expected he might have qualified to become one of the Queen’s newest knights in a ceremony dating back 650 years.
Perhaps attention should now turn to the possibility of a papal knighthood during the Pope’s visit. Certainly Howard’s done everything possible to earn it.
Nice story! Pity about the facts! The alleged ‘conspiracies’ around which this article has been ‘constructed are :1. That Howard provided ‘political muscle” for Vatican teaching. 2. That Howard has helped with financial assistance for World Youth day. On Howards watch there were 3 votes in parliament on issues related to the sanctity of human life and related legislation. Howard allowed conscious votes for all 3 and, though he, to his credit, voted pro-life in all 3, the Parliament collectively did not. Abbott had his discretion over the abortion drug RU 486 removed and destructive embryo stem cell research and cloning were approved. As well the Stem Cell Reseach Institute in Melbourne was established under the dubious Alan Trounsen and Howards government gave them a grant of $40 million.
With World Youth day, I would have thought the State Labour government has helped as much as the Feds and,of course, Rudd could overturn the funding decisions if he thought it dubious.
Excellent piece, Alex. Pell is an appallingly deceptive agitative and contrary character hiding from scrutiny. Consider his watered down “call to arms” against freethought in his last Xmas message. Then compare to Rowan Williams message which praises the humane contributions and refutation of overt religio-superstition from secularists. Pell always aims to alienate non-conformists via arrogant fancy. As a community we must impart zero respect for superstitious men & the myth of Xtianity, invented imperatives, meddling in progressive policy/discourse, life saving science and assuming default authority over morality. People die whilst he designs Gods [meaning his own] wishes. Pell offered 50K to scientists for only non-embryonic stem cell research, and published false claims: called fraud[http://www.endeavourforum.org.au/april05-10.htm] Fair? “Non-Critical Thought” award winning piece[http://www.sydney.catholic.org.au/Archbishop/STC/2001/2001122_878.shtm] We’re above his false dynamics.
Better pay in the Catholic system? The Catholic Education Office has a pollcy of pay parity with the state sector in Victoria. The current agreement allows for larger class sizes and higher face to face teaching hours than the comparable state agreement.
Why does Alex Mitchell think the VIEU is asking it’s Catholic school members to strike in conjunction with their public sector counterparts?
Very thought-provoking albeit cynical examination of some of the issues and unfortunately not well researched. Very disappointing information on Catholic education funding and teacher pay. Annoyingly numbers of the media don’t do their research on this issue and continue to perpetuate misinformation.
It is a blessed gift bestowed on Alex Mitchell, his quirky sense of humour. If it were true the Pope was to dish out any kind of award to not so honest John, there would be many a pair of Rosary beads tossed into the I’m outa here bin. Christians we left footers may be, but the thought of Papal approval of the reign of JWH is not a pleasing one. Incidently why is it “a pair of Rosary Beads “? One would have though a set of, or perhaps a string of but a pair of mmmmmm. Perhaps Bishop Pell knows.